


A Sunny Day

by DapperSheep



Category: Food Fantasy
Genre: Gen, Introspective Conversations, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-04
Updated: 2018-08-04
Packaged: 2019-06-21 15:32:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15560886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DapperSheep/pseuds/DapperSheep
Summary: As both their host and master, the least they could be was be understanding of the souls they've welcomed into their home and their life.A conversation on Food Souls between Olivia's Tiramisu and the Master Attendant.





	A Sunny Day

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic into the growing fandom of Food Fantasy. This is more to sate my need to worldbuild for this game, as well as play around with whatever story information is available to the players at this time. This is unbeta'd.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own none of the characters here, except for my creative liberties in characterizing them.

 

It was a bright and sunny day out.

Too bright and sunny, in fact, that they were relieved that there wasn’t a need to gather ingredients today in the forest. The heat would have been unbearable, and fighting in such a weather was just plain masochistic.

But with the restaurant also closed to the public for today, there was less work they had to do. Plum Juice had taken over the restaurant’s accounting after that last fiasco with the books, Coffee had stealthily wrestled control of the restaurant management as a whole, and many of the more earnest Food Souls had taken it upon themselves to do something to lighten the load their Master Attendant had to do every day.

Once they realized it, they were left with absolutely the bare minimum, tasks that only the Master Attendant themselves could complete.

In a way, they’ve all somehow managed to become a dysfunctional functioning family. The Master Attendant wasn’t sure how to feel about that, other than an impending sense of doom of so many personalities living under one roof.

Still not wanting to waste the day away in their room, they changed into a set of casual day clothes and made their way down to the restaurant.

‘ _I might as well check if the furnishings are still intact.’_ They thought. With the kind of world outside, living was hard. And there were people who simple lived to make others miserable. The Master Attendant couldn’t count the number of times they had to throw out a bad customer or two within the same day, and most of the time there was some sort of property damage.

They made their way down the hallway that connected the back kitchen to the rest of the restaurant, mentally finding it surreal to hear none of the sounds of orders being yelled and kitchen utensils being used. There was some noise and a murmur of voices in the kitchen, though it was likely a few of the Food Souls cleaning up in the kitchen.

Pushing open the door to the dining hall, they suddenly stopped in their tracks upon seeing another person in the otherwise soulless room.

Sitting at the table by the window was a familiar brunette. The creak of the door had alerted the Food Soul and she turned her gaze to them. The Master Attendant didn’t own a Food Soul of her kind yet, and they knew of only one who would have any purpose here at all.

Briefly, they wondered how she got in here with the storefront closed. _'Must have been Rice.'_ A fleeting thought whispered. Rice did seem to have grown fond of Tiramisu like a younger sibling looking up to an older one.

“Hello Peixes.” Despite the Food Soul’s friendly tone, they couldn’t help a frown hearing their own ‘name’. She misunderstood the reaction as them being displeased, however, since in the next second, she was getting up from her seat.

“I’m sorry, I could wait outside-”

The Master Attendant raised their hand, cutting her off. "It’s fine, it’s fine, Tiramisu. You could just stay here, I guess.” They said quickly.

Tiramisu didn’t need to know the _why_ , and while they knew she was perceptive enough, she hadn’t pushed the question.

They scrambled for something else to say. “Are you alone? Where's Olivia?" They asked hurriedly, glancing about just in case the older woman wasn’t just hiding out in the corners.

Tiramisu fixed them with a quiet look. After a moment’s consideration, she hesitantly returned to her seat. "She's in town, checking up on the other Attendants in the area before she comes by. I thought I’d come ahead and warn you." She spoke.

That doesn’t sound nice at all. “Does Olivia want something from me?”

“That would be up to her to explain.”

"I see…" They tried not to roll their eyes at that. Well at least Tiramisu had warned them this time. Olivia enjoyed coming in unannounced way too much.

"The restaurant’s empty today. Did something happen?"

The Master Attendant shook their head. "Just inventory day. Coffee’s growing suspicious someone’s messing with the supplies." They answered. Not to mention the M-class they'd delegated to the restaurant had ran themselves haggard after a particularly busy week. It had, in fact, been a busy time for all of them.

“That sounds reasonably concerning.” She nodded. It was then they noticed something on the table in front of her.

“A book?”

"Oh, yes. The Story of the Beginning and Other Tales." Tiramisu spoke warmly. She ran her fingers over the rough leather cover, holding it with something close to reverent care. It was cracked in some areas, but otherwise looked well cared for. "A children’s book, but I like the stories in this one."

“So you read as a hobby?”

“Sometimes, when time permits.” She answered. “Do you read books, P- Master Attendant?”

They shrugged. “Sometimes. I’m as busy as you are these days.” Which was putting it lightly at the least.

“Anyway… I have to, check on the chairs and tables a moment.” They gestured to the room at large. Tiramisu merely nodded her acknowledgment and opened the book to a bookmarked page. They both went about their own business in relative silence, broken only by noisy shifts of furniture and the near whisper of turning pages.

They had nothing to say to each other, though the Master Attendant’s thoughts were turning. After making a slow circuit of the dining hall and finding nothing needed to be pulled out for repairs, they sighed at the reminder that this whole business was their life now.

‘ _Will wonders never cease?’_ They smiled ruefully to themselves. Not only becoming an Attendant without warning, but also being saddled with a supposed ‘broken’ Food Soul and an aspiring Master Attendant who was too loud and headstrong for his own good. They didn’t even want to start with that strange genius Mithra.

Food Souls. Fallen Angels. Conspiracies. It was a complete deviation from the quiet life they’d hoped to have after years of struggling to survive.

Too much, too fast. In the wake of everything, they were still confused on where they stood in the grand scheme of things.

Unless...

They glanced at the Food Soul, who hasn’t taken notice of them staring at her.

They bit their lip in thought. Perhaps it was alright to ask her a few things, now that they were alone and Olivia wasn’t around to interrupt. In hindsight, it was probably rude to ask Olivia’s Tiramisu directly, but they didn’t feel particularly trusting of the older woman, no matter that she had been there to guide them since the start. People were hard to trust.

At the least, if Tiramisu was disinclined, she had no obligations to tell them anything at all.

"Hey, Tiramisu?" They called. The Food Soul turned to them with a cant of their head.

"Yes?"

“You’ve been around a long time, haven’t you?”

“If you meant as Olivia’s Food Soul, then yes I have been around for quite a while.” What that meant exactly, passed over their head but that wasn’t the main concern now.

They asked, "I've always wondered, there's so many of you walking around but how come you’re able to act independently of each other? And not… I don’t know, act like you share one mind?”

Olivia's Food Soul graced them with a patient smile. "You haven't been a Master Attendant long, so there's nothing wrong about asking." She closed the book and gestured to the seat across from her. "Sit. This may take a while."

They obeyed and quickly sat down. A thrum of excitement passed through them at the thought of finally getting some answers.

With a soft intake of breath, she began. "As Olivia has told you before, the form you see is merely simulacra. Solid, yes, but nothing more than that. For a long time, we were regarded as weapons against the Fallen Angels. There was no need for us to think beyond protecting humankind, or to put our own desires over yours. This, you already know. Despite that, we have always thought independently of one another. We’re only similar in appearance and certain traits.”

The Master Attendant nodded. "But why this form?" They gestured to Tiramisu's humanlike visage.

"Because this is a form that mortals of this world can perceive." She answered. "Why we chose this base appearance all across us, I cannot say. My best answer is that it's likely an instinctual need to connect with other souls in this world."

"So... a kind of harmony, you mean?"

Tiramisu blinked. "You can put it that way." She responded thoughtfully.

The Master Attendant looked at their scarred hands in deep thought. _'If there were any differences at all across all the Food Souls of the same name, it's because they chose to be seen as different, even_ _a little bit_ _.'_

It made sense.

With renewed curiosity, they looked up and asked, "Alright... but why is it that I can only summon one of you, and if I do get another... they turn into large crystallized shards instead?"

"It's the limitations of the contract. At least, that's what the researchers have concluded for now. I don’t… have an opinion on the matter." Tiramisu replied, shifting slightly in her seat. "Only one of us may be bound to one unique Master Attendant. If another answers the call, they become a means to strengthen the already existing simulacra of the first contract."

“… So they die?” The Master Attendant asked, horrified.

Tiramisu shook her head. “No. Not that way. The energy that was supposed to be used to retain our manifestation here would instead be infused with our essence, and then used as a means to empower your first contract. Energy has to go somewhere, and this was how it was designed out of convenience.”

They paused and recalled the memory of another Long Bao answering their summons. Instead of that Food Soul leaving the summoning circle with them, it had disappeared in a flurry of lights, leaving behind a sizable gem shard radiating the colors of the Food Soul. It confused the Master Attendant, to the point they nearly panicked thinking they had done the summoning wrong somehow.

It had taken Rice's well-meaning consoling and Olivia's brief yet exasperated explanation to calm them down. The event was mostly forgotten, in part because they had been under time constraint to complete an investigation, but now that they were allowed a moment of quiet, the thoughts had returned.

“That does sound convenient.” They couldn’t keep the slight awe from seeping into their voice as they processed all this information. And all this within the past century? Granted, humankind had been on the verge of extinction -still is-, but this level of ingenuity was incredible and almost terrifying.

‘ _Well… desperation brings out the worst and best out of anyone.’_ A snide little voice whispered. They pushed the thought away.

“At least that settles my fears about doing something wrong with my summoning.”

Tiramisu hummed. “Any human is capable of summoning a Food Soul if they put the effort into it. Unless you’re completely lacking in talent or interrupted, I doubt you’d be able to fail a summoning at all.” She added. She then cleared her throat. “Now that I’ve answered your questions, can you answer one of mine?”

They blinked. Well, that’s a fair enough exchange. “Fair enough. What do you wanna ask?”

“Why are you suddenly so curious about all this?”

The question sounded innocent enough, but they felt cautious all the same.

“I just want to not be in the dark all the time.” They answered, carefully keeping eye contact. “All I’ve ever dreamed of was simply opening a restaurant, and then all this happened the moment Olivia walked through those doors.”

It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. And while it sounded as if they were blaming the older woman, the Master Attendant could care less about how Tiramisu was going to interpret that. They deserve to have an outlet for their frustration.

They continued without pause, “I’m familiar with Food Souls and how things work, but after everything that’s happened, I’m not even sure I understand what I do know anymore. If everyone else insists that I be kept me out of things I’m not allowed to know, the least I could do is understand my own Food Souls.”

When they weren’t forthcoming with more, Tiramisu leaned forward. “And you think asking me would help?” Her tone was gentle, coaxing even.

“You’ve been around long enough.” They pointed out and shrugged. “That’s why I thought of you. You’re as unbiased as a Food Soul can be.”

She studied them for a long moment. They were no mind reader, so they couldn’t possibly have an inkling about what was going through her mind at that moment. Eventually, she was first to break the contact and leaned back with a wistfully sad expression gracing her features.

“You’re a kind person, Peixes.” She said softly. “I do mean it. Even with the problems we’re facing, you remain concerned about your Food Souls.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to end up like that bastard who got done in by his own Lobster. I do like being alive, thank you very much.” Surprisingly, that got a laugh out of her and they couldn’t help but crack a smile in response. The tension that had built up in their body fell away like water pouring onto the ground and for a moment, everything felt just right.

They shared a companionable silence after that, broken again when Tiramisu spoke. “If you don’t have any other questions, then I suppose that it’s it. I do hope I was able to answer your concerns?”

“Well, you do explain it better than Mithra, no offense meant to her.” They quipped. “Though frankly, I don’t think she would have cared-”

“Master Attendant! Master Attendant!”

A familiar voice cried from the hallway. At the urgency in the tone, they were immediately on guard.

“Rice? What’s going on?” The Food Soul burst into the room just as they stood from their seat.

“Tea asked me to get you before Coffee gets his hands on Miso!”

They paused midway through striding towards her. The words didn’t quite register in their head. “Wait, what?” They blurted out.

“Coffee had this really funny look on his face when he left for the river and Tea said it might be because of the missing supplies…?” Rice sounded preciously confused it was borderline cute.

They pinched the bridge of their nose and groaned. “Right… well, thanks for getting me.” They closed the distance and reached out to ruffle Rice’s hair. “Do me a favor and please keep Tiramisu company?”

“I can do that!” She beamed, pleased that she has another task to complete and didn’t have to deal with the drama her fellow Food Souls were getting into.

“Good luck.” Tiramisu called from behind them. Sending her a nod of acknowledgment, they briskly walked down the hall and out through the kitchen, heading in the direction of the river and praying that today won’t have any incidents involving two very upset Food Souls.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this utterly boring fanfic. At the least, my future works would be a bit more interesting. Namely, playing around with ships and headcanons.


End file.
